That Much Heralded Root

August 29, 2008

Great photo set today in The Korean Times. All those wishing to learn a little more about ginseng should check out Shim Hyun-chul’s shots. This year’s Ginseng Festival runs from August 29th right through to September 7th. I will be there this year. I swear by the stuff. Works wonders.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

New Addition To The Nikon Family

August 28, 2008

It’s that time of year again when the digital heavyweights come out to strut their new fleet of cameras. Nikon just cornered the market yet again with their release of the D90. What I’m liking is the boost in its ISO sensitivity range, up to 6400. But even more revolutionary is its movie function. A first in the league of D-SLR cameras, the D90 allows you to shoot HD720p movies. It it packs a much bigger sensor than those found in camcorders so image quality is crisp and noise-free. Nice. Let’s wait and see if that takes a chip out of the camcorder market. Read the rest on your own if you like.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Breathing Valleys Steeped In Tradition

August 27, 2008

The September issue of Seoul Selection is available for download. Two works of mine went in: one a piece on Anseong (Page 34) and the other a review on Art Center Mahno (Page 37). Go give it a read if you get a chance. Anseong is a fine place for a weekend getaway and easily accessible - it’s only an hour away by bus.

Those interested can give the Anseong Tourism Information Center a call for further details at (031) 677-1330. You can also comb the official website for more stuff too (http://tour.anseong.go.kr).

Although it’s a little tricky getting to some of the historical gems, scribble in a trip to the temples of Seongnamsa and Cheongnyongsa if you can. You’ll be happy you did. It was here at Cheongnyongsa where the Namsadangpae spent their winters as they travelled throughout the nation performing for villagers.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

New Nikon Software

August 27, 2008

This update landed in my inbox and it looks awesome. Go check out some of the demos. It’s a nice little boost for Aperture users.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

The Stars Come Out

August 24, 2008

I had VIP passes last night to Mnet’s 20’s Choice Awards. Below are a couple from the evening. Both pop stars, Hyori Lee and Uhm Jung-hwa, are two of Korea’s finest entertainers. I’ll be posting some more this week. You can view a few more on Flickr in the Celebrity Seoul slideshow.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Tongdosa Temple Stay

August 19, 2008

The KTO threw up my piece on Tongdosa - a beautiful temple in the province of Gyeongsangnam-do.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Anseong Anchored In Tradition

August 10, 2008

I was in Anseong over the weekend. Great sleepy town. Nothing really happens within the city walls, you have to get out to see much of the traditional offerings. There is a great church though that was established by a French priest in 1901. The architecture is remarkable - a beautiful fusion of western and eastern design. I was also able to get to Namsadangnori Performing Arts Center - the pics below are from there. The rainy weather forced the festivities to head indoors.

The trip was for a feature for next month’s Seoul Selection issue. I have a few more in slideshow format.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Olympic Glory 2008

August 8, 2008

Shim’s got a nice set of the Beijing Olympics. I know that The Korea Times recently changed their camera fleet from Canon to Nikon. He uses the D3 now and it’s damn good - I was fortunate to have used it.

There’s also an informative article by Korea Times Correspondent Sunny Lee on China’s clandestine ways.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Aperture 2 Just Got Better

August 7, 2008

For all you Aperture 2 users out there, if you haven’t upgraded to 2.1 then follow this link. The new ‘Dodge & Burn’ plug-in is pretty cool.

I was a big Photoshop user before but recently began pushing alot of my editing with that program aside in favour of both Lightroom’s user-friendly interface and Aperture’s rich integrated workflow.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Jason Mraz In Seoul

August 4, 2008

Was lucky to have caught Jason Mraz on Saturday at Melon-AX in Seoul. The venue was nice and small and the set list stretched up to two hours. I didn’t have my camera with me but was able to meet a fellow blogger in the audience who was kind enough to send me a few from his set. The one below is his and he has a few more on his site together with a couple of videos from the show.

If you get a chance to see Jason Mraz, be sure to check him out. Hands down, he’s one of the best live acts around.

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Posted by Gregory Curley

Photographers of the World Unite

August 1, 2008

Found a nice looking site today. Layout’s pretty user-friendly and very Mac-ish in style. It’s a great way to connect with a growing pool of international photographers.

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Posted by Gregory Curley